Improvement in hemming, tucking, and folding guides for sewing-machines



F. HENRY.v Guide and Hemmer.

No'.V 37,505. Patented Jan. 27, 1863.

NA PETERS. Pholo-L'Mwgupbsv. Walhingim BC.

UNITED STATES lPartitur (3F-Ficar FRANK HENRY, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEMMING, TDCKING, AND FOLDING GUIDES FOR SEWINGMACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,505, 4dated January 27, 1863.

To all) whom it may concern Beitknownthatl, FRANK HENaY.ofBritlge port. in the county ot' Fairtield and State of Connecticut, haveinvented anewand Improved Folder for Hemming, Tuck'ing, and Felling in the SewingMachine; and I do hereby` declare that the following is a t'ull, clear, and exact description of the same', reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which- Figure l is a top view of the folder. Fig.2 is a \iew of the same, taken on that side at which the cloth to be folded ent-ers. Figs.- 3, 4, and 5 are vertical sections ot' the same, parallel with Fig. 2, in the plane indicated by the line ma' in Fig. 1, illustrating respectively the operations ot' hemming, tucking, and felling.

. Similar letters of reference indicate corre'- spondiug parts in the several figures.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use niyinvention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

a bc is the device for turning the edge of a hem, constructed and combined with the presserfoot piece A, substantially like what is couimonly used in what is known as the WVheeler 8m Vilson sewing-machine, except that I have substituted t'or the fixed guide commonly provided on the foot-piece for the outer fold ot' the hem an adjustable guide, d, consisting 0i' a straight bar, which is kept parallelwith the iixed guide c, Fig. 3, commonly provided for theinner fold, and with the direction of the feed movement, hy means ot' atiat slotted shank,f. The said shank is rigidly attached to one end ot' the said bar at right angles to it, and is t`1tted to slide in a groove provided across the foot-piece A i'or its reception, and can be secured with' the guide d at a distance from c equal tothe desired widthot' thehem by means ot' a set-screw, g, which passes through the upper plate, a., and through the slot fot' the shank, and screws into a tapped hole in the foot-piece A, the head ot' the said set-screw pressing upon the said plate and causing it to clamp the shank f. To thefother end ot' the shank fthere is rigidly secured a bar, It, to which is rigidly secured the blunt-edged knife or knife-like plate `t, which occupies a position at right angles to the guide-har cl,-With its extremity only so far from the said har as to permit the thickness of a piece of cloth to pass between them. The outer fold of thc hem,

fell, ortuck is turned over the end of this plate, which is rounded oft' on its outer or front side, as shown at 7 in Fig. l, to prevent it from catching in the cloth. y

To use the folders the guide-bar d and plate t' are first adjusted with the inner edge ot' the guide-bar d at a distance t'rom the edge ofthe 'fixed guide c equal to the desired width or depth of the hem, tuck, or fell. To turn a hem the cloth is inserted in the direction ofthe arrow shown in Fig. l, between-the guide d and the end of the plate t', and folded over the plate t', and its edge introduced between the partsa and b, by which the inner fold of the hem is turned, and when the feed-motion is set in operation the cloth is drawn along, and while its edge is turned under by the parts (t and b to make the inner fold the outer fold is formed at a regular distance from the inner one by theconibined action ot' the guide-bar d and the end of the platefin the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, in which the transverse section of a hem in course ot' formation is shown in red color. In this operation the loweror principal portion of the hein is kept smooth by the plate t', which also keeps the outer fold close up to the guide d., and at a uniform distance from the inner fold, thus making the hem ot' uniform width. The needle operates through the hole or notch j in the foot-piece A, which, occupying a fixed position relatively to the guide e, which guides the inner fold of the hem, causes the stitching to be produced at such distance from or as close to the inner fold of the hem as may he desired.

In tucking the cloth is folded in the line which is to t'orm the outer edge ot' the tuck, and placed under the har h, plate d, and footpiece A, with the edge of the fold against the bar d, which in that operation operates as a guide to keep the said edge at a distance from the line ot' motion of the needle equal to the desired width ot' the tuck.

In felling the seam is tirst made with a Wider margin on one side than on the other, and the two pieces ot' the cloth are laid ont tiat under the platetand bars d/t,with the wider margin upward `and over the plate i, and with the ridge 7c formed bythe seam against the inner edge otA the 'oar d, andthe edge of the wider margin is introduced between the portions a b ot' the folder, and when the feed-motion is set in op eration the cloth, being drawn along with the has the edge ofthe wider margin folded by the portions et and b of the folder at a uniform distance from the seam, and thelatter fold is presented as close to the needle as is desired, making the fell of' uniforin'width and the stitching of the fell at a uniform dist-ance from the seam, In this operation the plate i Works inside of the fell and holds theridge of the seam against the guide-bar d. i Whatl ela-im as myinvention, and desire'to l secure by Letters Patent, is l ridge vof the seam in Contact with the edge d, I

The combination', with the hein turner a b c and foot-piece A, of the adjustable guide d,eon strueted with shank j', bar h, and plate i, all substantially in the manner herein shown and described.

FRANK HENRY.

l Witnesses:

J osIAH 'HUBBEL1 JAMES DASKAH. 

